Malacanang on Thursday hinted it is clueless on the reported labor dispute between Filipino workers and a major American service contractor on Diego Garcia Island, and was still waiting for a report from the Department of Migrant Workers’ (DMW) on the issue.
The newspaper Washington Post reported earlier that Filipino officials had asked the employer, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), to raise the workers’ wages to meet the United States’ federal minimum wage rate.
The company however, was allegedly forcing its employees to continue working at current wage levels.
The news report also said the KBR “emotionally blackmailed” the Philippine government by canceling all charter flights from the island to the Philippines since January.
However, KBR vice president of global marketing and communications Philip Ivy belied the accusations.
Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the Palace was expecting DMW Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople to release a statement on the issue.
Angeles said she has no idea if President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would raise this during his trip to the US this month.
Marcos is scheduled to leave for New York on Sept. 18 and will return to the Philippines on Sept. 24.
“Whether or not it’s going to be brought up, we will have to see about that one. But for the moment, we’re relying [on] and monitoring from the Department of Migrant Workers. It’s still in the hands of Sec. Toots. We will wait for her report. Malacañang relies heavily on the people who are directly involved on this one,” Angeles told Palace reporters.
KBR employs more than 1,200 mostly Filipinos as clerks, warehouse workers and in other semiskilled jobs.
The firm engages in construction services such as industrial buildings, government building, complex refineries, warehouses and other projects